"So, how long have you been having these hallucinations, Opal?"
Opal squirmed against the plush couch, hands twisting at a napkin in her lap. It only took one conversation with her family and she had found herself going to therapy twice a week for her 'behavior'. Having gone through several doctors with no results, her parents were close to sending her out of the state for professional help when her aunt Lin (whom she would be grateful for speaking up on her behalf) suggested a personal friend of hers for Opal.
Which is how the young dancer found herself sitting on the couch in front of a very young and equally attractive psychiatrist, who was currently finishing cleaning his glasses before putting them back on.
"Four months."
"How did it begin?" He asked, a clipboard in his lap and a pen resting in his hand. His casual demeanor may have tried to put her at ease, but Opal had been down this path before with others and knew it was just a sham. She took a breath and told her story.
"I was at our summer home with my family when I saw a girl on the docks. No one was supposed to be there, and she was obviously trespassing so I went to confront her but…"
Mako sensed her hesitancy and silent urged her to continue, his eyes never once leaving her.
"But… when I got closer she was… there was just something wrong with her. She was dripping wet and had this chain coiled around her arm and looked like she just got out of a fight and… and when I called out to her, she turned and-" Opal's breath caught in her throat at the memory of those eyes staring angrily back at her, void of all color and glowing brighter than any light she could remember. Mako wrote something down on the pad in his lap, his once casual and relaxed position now tense, a strange look to his eye.
"After that I saw her everywhere. She just stares back at me and no one can seem to see her except me. I don't know why this girl is following me or she even is a girl but I'm scared and tired of always looking over my shoulders for her." She confessed in a broken voice, the familiar prickle of tears burning her eyes. As she wiped at the corners of her eyes, Mako mumbled something under his breath and looked to her once again.
"Has this hallucination made you do anything or attack you with the chain on her right arm?" He asked, sitting up straight and waiting for her answer. Opal was about to shake her head when she went over his words and became rigid, her heart slamming away in her chest frantically. Mako's brows knitted together in concern and he leaned forward to look at the other closer just as she moved her lips wordlessly.
"Ms. Beifong?"
Her head snapped up, green eyes holding a mix of fright and confusion in their depths as she repeated herself in a surprisingly calm voice.
"I never said what arm the chain was on…"
The silence that fell between them made her feel like she was drowning, and she wasn't so sure it was a coincidence.